


Sense of Humour

by Davechicken



Series: Kylux - Fluff & Angst [242]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10858806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davechicken/pseuds/Davechicken
Summary: Kylo is glad to see Hux has one...





	Sense of Humour

Kylo managed it first. He’d inherited many things from his parents (his Force abilities, his hair, his inability to disagree without the threat of imminent screaming), but perhaps one of the few he didn’t mind so much was his way with words. You learned to stay on the tip of your tongue in order not to be caught up in a flurry of grammatical corrections, or Dad Jokes. 

And Hux hadn’t expected it. They’d been introduced, and Kylo had felt the unease and discomfort. The nervous anticipation and disgust. Robed and masked, Kylo struck an even more impassive and impenetrable figure than any Stormtrooper or officer… and Hux had assumed he’d be aloof, haughty, detached. Some distant, esoteric figure, unbothered by the day to day ephemera (and that was, for his sins, how Hux would think when he was trying to impress himself with his own sophistication).

Hux hadn’t expected the sharp tongue of a smuggler-politician-pilot-mechanic-princess-general. Kylo had snarked out of the side of his mouth, and there’d been an abortive chortle from the man beside him. He’d tried to conceal it as a cough, gloved fist up to his mouth, head turned.

But Kylo had _heard_. And he had _understood_.

Not everyone’s mind was quick enough to keep up with his, but _Hux’s_ was.

***

It became a challenge. A _game_. He would throw out comments off the cuff, trying to make the man lose his composure. It wasn’t easy, and most of the time the most he would get would be lips twitching, or a holding of breath.

But Kylo _knew_. He knew. 

Hux was the only one who _really_ got everything that came out of his mouth, and their conversations became double-layered. The ripostes of wit over the battlefield of bureaucracy. They would parry barbs back and forth, and it was - it was just - _good_.

It wasn’t friendship, but it was… an acknowledgement. An equal. A… brother in intellectual arms. Their little jibes made life more interesting again, and Kylo found he sought his company, more and more. 

Even when he was an imperial pain in the ass.

***

The first _real_ time, well. It wasn’t _real_. Behind closed doors, and Hux let out a sharp: _HAH_. He was amused, but it wasn’t a laugh. 

It was wrong. False. Fake. For some reason, the overblown tones made Kylo physically ill, and he’d left the room as soon as he could. He just couldn’t… stay.

Kylo avoided Hux for some time after, and when they rejoined, the distance between them had grown cold again.

Hux radiated betrayal, and Kylo didn’t know why.

***

Long after the mess, after the Incident Which We Do Not Name. In private, again, and Hux was maudlin, his face… gaunt. The loss had hit him hard, and Kylo wondered if it had hurt him more than it had hurt the Knight himself.

Alone, once the presence of their Leader faded. 

A ripple of emotion, a hysterical combination of contradictions, making his torso shake. 

“What is it?”  


“You don’t even know, do you?”  


“Evidently not.”  


Hux turned, and Kylo grabbed his elbow. Anger and fear on Hux’s face, and then resignation, soon after. “He intends to kill me.”

“He intends to kill us all at some point.”  


And then - something patently unfunny, and hilarious as well - that made Hux’s laughter bark out in that _HAH_ that Kylo hated so much. 

“We are both fools, then.”  


Kylo let go of his arm, feeling oddly… chilled. “Perhaps.”

“I thought I could be useful. I thought I could be–”  


“You are,” Kylo insisted, suddenly fierce.   


“Not useful enough.”  


“ _You. Are.”_ Of all the people in this Order, Hux… “You are the best of them.”  


“And still not enough.”  


“No one ever is.”  


It wasn’t funny, but Hux’s eyes thought it was. His mouth told a different tale. “I should see if I can… find some way to…”

What? Nothing they ever could try would be enough. It would always stop just short. It’s not funny, not any more.

Kylo watched Hux leave, and wondered.

He hadn’t heard a genuine laugh, and… he was sure he needed to. Someday, somehow. 


End file.
